Poppi Worthington has been denied justice because of a litany of police failings including a senior officer not wanting to spend £20,000 on forensics and others taking the weekend off, a damning report has found.

Despite the 13-month-old's father, Paul Worthington, being a suspect "from day one" the "unstructured and disorganised" investigation means that there was no resolution to the case, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) concluded.

The report lays bare a blame culture in which the two senior officers, Detective Superintendent Mike Forrester and Detective Inspector Amanda Sadler, tried to pass responsibility for a serious of failings.

Both officers were found to have a case to answer for gross misconduct but Mr Forrester retired aged 48 on a full pensions before he disciplinary actions could be taken.

Mrs Sadler, a former Miss Great Britain beauty queen, was found guilty by her force and demoted to Sergeant. She has also since retired.

Jerry Graham, the Chief Constable of Cumbria Constabulary last night admitted that the watchdog's report"makes for uncomfortable reading". But he insisted that changes had been made and officers and staff have been "properly trained and equipped" to conduct similar complex investigations.

The IPCC concluded the report in March 2015 but it can only now be released as the Crown Prosecution Service have re-examined the evidence and concluded they have no "realistic prospect" of securing a conviction.

The watchdog lays blame for the lack of evidence on Cumbria police, who on the first day allowed potentially crucial evidence to be thrown in the bin.

Despite officers having alleged "intelligence" on Mr Worthington and the doctor who treated Poppi raising concerns that she had been sexually abused, it took senior officers seven months to launch a criminal investigation, risking the loss of evidence, and eight to arrest him.

Mrs Sadler admitted she had suspected Mr Worthington from "day one", but said that she "didn’t feel that I had enough experience myself to make any of those decisions on my own", whilst Mr Forrester denied that he had failed to record it as a crime so that he did not have an unsolved crime on his record.

Detective Superintendent Mike Forrester

In the first explanation of the delays to be made public, Mrs Sadler gave evidence explaining it was a "real shame" that nothing was done between Poppi's death and the initial post mortem five days later as "because it was a weekend and we were off”.

Her position was criticised by the IPCC as it suggested that "had Poppi died on a different day then more actions may have been completed".

It was the first in a long line of delays, and Mr Forrester claimed that he could not do anything until the full post mortem concluded in June 2013 that Poppi had been sexually assaulted after doctors initially said she could have just been constipated.

He blamed staff cuts which meant that they could not spend time taking statements which might not have been required, telling investigators that "an ideal world they would have obtained all the statements, but this is not an ideal world".

The report states: "D/Supt Forrester agreed that there were actions that could have been done quicker, he said he could have spent £20,000 sending everything off for forensic analysis, and they probably could have interviewed everybody in that period; however he also said to do that meant tying up resources when it was not known if there was any value in doing it."

Statements should be taken as soon as possible so that untainted accounts can be taken and witnesses do not forget information, the IPCC said as they noted that "not only were there suspicious circumstances, there was also a suspect on day one".

The IPCC also criticised his claim that e was investigating only the death and his role "wasn’t to investigate whether Poppi had been sexually abused, either at the point of death or prior to death".

The comments were cited as proof that the officers were focused on establishing that Poppi died of natural causes.

Poppi Worthington's grave

When questions were raised about the investigation Mr Forrester allegedly said he would use an email ordering him to take control two weeks after the death as a "a get out of jail card" to prove he was not initially involved.

The IPCC concluded that there was "substantial evidence available to support the contention that the reason this case has still not reached a resolution more than two years on from the death of Poppi is because of the unstructured and disorganised approach taken by D/Supt Forrester and DI Sadler."

IPCC Commissioner Carl Gumsley described the inquiry as "not fit for purpose".

Local Labour MP John Woodcock who said that there was a "horrifying sense of covering ones back" called on the Government to ensure officers are sacked when they are guilty of gross misconduct.

He added: ""This long suppressed report shows the scale of Cumbria police's failings are even worse than we thought."

Speaking on behalf of Poppi’s mother, Fiona McGhie, expert civil liberties lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said she was "deeply and profoundly disappointed and distressed" that the actions of officers could have contributed to delays in her reaching the truth.

Mr Forrester refused to comment when approached by the Daily Telegraph.